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Friday, February 27, 2009

The Love Language are gearing up for a busy spring. In addition to the playing a few shows in March including the Schoolkids in-store and the Local 506 album release show, the band have just announced a big tour for April. The band will take their new self-titled album from coast to coast in hopes to be the next band to break out of the Triangle. Check out the dates and download a track from the album below.

Death Cab For Cutie have released a new video from their fantastic 2008 album Narrow Stairs. The video is for the simple, yet amazing track "Grapevine Fires." The animated video shows a neighborhood attempting to escape an approaching fire. Check it out below.

Death Cab For Cutie are hitting the road on a US tour in April which will include a show in Davidson, NC on April 9. Check out the complete tour schedule here.

In the build up to the release of their new album O Tall Tree in the Ear, Roman Candle are planning to release an acoustic video for each of the album tracks between now and the release on May 12. They plan to release a video each Friday, starting today.

Schoolkids Records has lined up some new in-stores for March. The most notable of the three in-stores currently on the schedule is local rising stars The Love Language. The band will play on March 28 at 3 pm to promote the release of their self-titled debut album. Later that night, they will play their big album release party at Local 506 with Max Indian and Oh Captain My Captain.

Also stopping at Schoolkids in March is New York singer-songwriter Rachael Sage. She will play the store on March 9 at 3:30 pm. Her latest album Chandelier was released last year. Sage will play an early show at Slim's on March 13 with Keri Noble.

Last but not least, Virginia band Invisible Hand will hit Schoolkids on 14 at 1 pm. The band will play Slim's the night before with Whatever Brains.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

So this seems to be this year's big multi-group flashback outing hitting amphitheatres this summer. Def Leppard, Poison and Cheap Trick will tour together from late June to early September. I have to agree with David Menconi's view that I would be much more interested to see Cheap Trick, who is third on the bill, than the hair metal/power ballad bands topping the bill (though I do enjoy the occasional classic Def Leppard song).

The tour will come to the amphitheatre at Walnut Creek on August 7. There's no word yet on when tickets will go on sale.

Here's another local music video for you. This one comes from The Old Ceremony and is for the title track from their new album Walk on Thin Air which was just released. The video was made by Brett Ingram who teaches filmmaking at my alma mater UNCG.

The video is in black and white and features a dreamlike characters. I don't really know how to explain it but on The Old Ceremony's MySpace blog, they say "It's like David Lynch and Buster Keaton made a short film together." Check out the video below and the band's tour dates here.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

ANTI- Records have released another track from Neko Case's upcoming album Middle Cyclone. It is the album's titled track which is a great little strummy, quiet little song that's a nice counterpart to the previously released track "People Got a Lot of Nerve." Download "Middle Cylone" below.

Don't forget, Neko will play the Meymandi Hall in downtown Raleigh on April 7 with Crooked Fingers. Tickets for that show are still on sale here. Check out all of Neko's upcoming tour dates here.

Local indie rock icons Superchunk are set to play the Cat's Cradle the week after they release their new EP Leaves in the Gutter. The show is slated for April 15 and tickets will be on sale "soon" for $12 according to the Cradle's website.

Gwen Stefani is getting back together with her old band, you know, those guys called No Doubt, and are embarking on a massive spring/summer tour. The tour will bring the band to the Triangle, specifically the Walnut Creek Amphitheatre (or the Time Warner Cable Pavilion to be accurate) in Raleigh on June 8. Tickets for the show will go on sale to the public on March 7 at noon via Live Nation ticketing and the "Tour Club" pre-sale will start on February 26 at 4 pm.

Paramore and The Sounds will open the entire tour. Check out all of the dates below and a video announcement from the band here.

Former Saddle Creek siren Maria Taylor will hit the road in April in support of her new album LadyLuck due out on Nettwerk Records on April 7. Maria will take The Whispertown 2000 on tour with her, the first group signed to Gillian Welch's Acony Records. The band's sophomore album Swim was released via Acony in October.

The tour includes a stop at Local 506 on April 9. Tickets for the show are on sale now for $8 via etix.com.

The dates below are a patchwork of dates found around the web. I'll update the list as more shows are announced. The dates have been updated with the complete tour schedule.

The first single from LadyLuck "Time Lapse Lifeline" was released via digital download services last month but you can download the track for free via Spinner.com.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

We've been giving Roman Candle a lot of attention lately, but they've been busy preparing to release their new album O Tall Tree in the Ear and their hard work deserves attention. As the May 12 release date draws closer, the band have scheduled their hometown release party. The band will play the Cat's Cradle on May 9 and Keegan Dewitt will open the show. There's no ticket info yet, but tickets will be available via etix.com as they always are.

The Avett Brothers, who are busy working on their major label debut with Rick Rubin, recently took some time to film a performance of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days." The video is part of a series on Springsteen's website called "Hangnin' On E Street" that features a variety of artists influenced by his music.

The Avetts video (which you can see below) is the latest in the series that also includes Bouncing Souls, Wyclef Jean, Juliana Hatfield, Mat Kearney, Against Me!, Ted Leo and The Gaslight Anthem. Upcoming videos will include Tegan and Sara, Pete Yorn, Josh Ritter, Nicole Atkins, Valencia and Birdmonster. Watch all of the videos here.

As we've mentioned before, The Avetts will hit the road with the Dave Matthews Band a bit this summer and will also play a bunch of headline shows around the country. Check out the dates below the video.

Check out this cool little feature on Valient Thorr from Current TV. It's fairly good introduction to the band for anyone who knows little about them. You can hear Valient explain the band name, Venus and how he wants everyone who comes to see them to get a "rock n' roll boner." Watch the clip below.

Valient Thorr will play Tir Na Nog in downtown Raleigh on Sunday, March 1 before making their way southwest for South By Southwest.

[UPDATE: The band had to cancel a few dates due to a family emergency. They are marked out below. I've also added some new dates.]

Monday, February 23, 2009

We just brought you the initial information about Ben Folds a capella album last week and now according to multiple sources, the album has a release date and a title. The album is titled Ben Folds Presents: University A Capella! and will be released on April 7. There is still no word yet on the final track list and university groups included on the release, but we'll let you know once we know.

Matthew Houck (aka Phosphorescent) will take his new album of Willie Nelson songs dubbed To Willie, released earlier this month, on the road starting this week. The extensive tour will see Houck and his band travel all over the country and will include a stop a the Duke Coffeehouse in Durham. That show is on March 26 and Deer Tick will be opening.

Band of Horses have been hard at work on the follow-up to 2007's Cease to Begin and are preparing to return to the road. The band has lined up some dates around their two big festival appearances at Coachella and Bonnaroo. The June tour around the later festival will include three stops in the Carolinas though no stop in the Triangle. The band will hit Asheville, Charlotte and North Myrtle Beach. Check out the dates below.

Check out our review and photos of Band of Horses show at the Lincoln Theatre in November 2007 here.

The Armadillo Grill on Duke's campus seems like a weird place to hold a rock show, but it actually works. I made my way to the campus Friday evening to finally check out Chapel Hill band The Huguenots and I was not disappointed.

The dapper four-piece played a set of 60s inspired pop tunes which catchy, clever melodies to a gaggle of students winding down from from their week. Their fun, high energy stage presence compliments their music, making them one of the grooviest bands in the area which won over much of the crowd.

The guys say they are about 80% done with an EP which they hope to find time to finish soon. In the meantime, check them out live at one of their many gigs in the area which are listed below.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

The Rosebuds have released a video for the title track off their latest album Life Like. Spin has premiered the video which you can watch below. It's a bizarre piece that features two people dressed like deer being hunted by a pair of hunters. The band are featured in the video too singing along to the song. Watch the video and tell us what you think of the band's social commentary. You can also download the track below.

Friday, February 20, 2009

The White Stripes will perform tonight on Conan O'Brien's last Late Night show in New York. This will be The White Stripes first live performance since the summer of 2007. The duo have been friends of Conan's for years appearing many times on the show including a week long stint on the show in 2003 to promote their album Elephant. Conan appeared in the band's video for "The Denial Twist" from the album Get Behind Me Satan. Check out the video below.

All of the shows this week have been incredibly funny and essentially a greatest hits of Conan's 16 years hosting Late Night. It will be worth your while to tune in at 12:37 tonight.

The new U2 album No Line on the Horizon leaked earlier this week which seems to have prompted the band's label to stream the album for free on MySpace. I haven't had a chance to listen to it all yet, but the first few tracks are not nearly as wonky as the first single "Get Your Boots On."

When you go to the band's MySpace page, you have to click the album art in the left bar of the music player to pull up all of the tracks.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

UK group The Veils, led by intense songwriter Finn Andrews, is gearing up to release their third album Sun Gangs. The album will be out on April 7 in the US, only one day after it's UK release. Why is this worth mentioning you ask? Because the band's last album Nux Vomica was released in US seven months after the UK release. I like seeing that there is an international release date as opposed to two very separate release dates this time. It brings the world a little closer together.

Download the fourth track from Sun Gangs below titled "Killed By the Boom." It's a bombastic tune that is more in-your-face musically than what we've heard from the band before.

The band don't have plans to tour the US yet, but we'll hopefully see them back in the Triangle before the year is up. They were last here with Liam Finn at Local 506 in September. Check out a review and photos of that show here.

Conor Oberst just released his first solo album for Merge Records in August but he's ready to release a new one. His second album with The Mystic Valley Band, which includes Taylor Hollingsworth, Jason Bosell, Nike Freitas, Macey Taylor and Nathaniel Walcott, was recorded in Texas in November and December last year. The album titled Outer South will feature 16 tracks and will out on May 5. That's an impressive 9-month turnaround.

The album will feature the song "Nikorette" which the band played on Late Night with Conan O'Brien last year and was a regular inclusion in their live sets. Check out the Conan performance below the tour dates.

The band have a few west coast dates lined up for April including an appearance at the Coachella Festival. The band are also slated to play the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado in June. That's an interesting booking. We're hoping the band make their way to the Triangle for the XX Merge Festival in July. The band put on a great show at the Cradle last year. Check out that review here.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

A cappella fans rejoice! Ben Folds is soon to release an album entitled University A Capella and well, that about explains it.

Folds and his team have been traveling the nation, recording student a cappella groups perform his songs for the album, which he hopes will be released in April. There's no complete list of schools or songs yet, but we'll post it when there is. Two tracks, "Boxing" and "Effington," were recorded by Folds so that Epic could justify the release, he says.

One group is from a university who's lawyers called us up and told us we weren't allowed to mention any association with their university. Funny, because I attended that school and was proud to work with these guys and try and pass on a little of my post college professional experience. Ironically I felt like I learned more from watching these kids work than I ever did during my stint there as a student.

HELLOOOOOOO, UNC GREENSBORO!!! Leave it to my alma mater -- the school that refused to have Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds on its campus in 2001, worried it wouldn't sell (I was the lone student member on the arts council...and pissed) -- to not want to get a mention on Ben Folds' album. Yeesh.

The Spartones, UNCG's men's a capella group, just happen to perform "Not The Same," and even released an album with that title. Seeing as Ben Folds did go to school there briefly, something he joked about on stage in Raleigh a couple years ago, there's really no other explaination. (Though if anyone else has a different explaination, please let me know!)

Whether this group is the Spartones or someone else, it sucks that they won't get the recognition for their work -- especially on something as cool as this project.

Either way, here's a video of the UNCG Spartones performing "Not The Same."

It looks like Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are preparing to tour together again. Garfunkel told a BBC reporter about the duo's plans to work together again after the duo shared the stage at a recent Paul Simon gig in New York. Garfunkel did not confirm whether or not there was a US tour in the works, but it would seem that's what they're leaning towards since he stated "Our plan to work together is coming together but it doesn't go through England this time." The duo last toured together in 2004.

Will the Triangle get a chance to see Simon and Garfunkel? We hope so.

Check out David Menconi's recent review of Art Garfunkel's recent show in Raleigh here.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Merge artists The Broken West have just released a new video from their sophomore album Now or Heaven. The video is for the song "Perfect Games" which features two assassins that are trying to kill each other. It's pretty funny and they both end up at a house party in the end where the band is playing. Download the song at the bottom of this post along with another track from the album.

The Broken West will hit the road with New Pornographer A.C. Newman next month and will stop at the Cat's Cradle on March 19. Tickets for that show are available via etix.com. Check out all of the dates here.

Stars frontman Torquil Campbell just posted a little hissy fit in a bulletin from his band's MySpace page railing against Triangle expatriate Ben Folds. Apparently Folds made a rather funny comment about Canadian musician Charles Spearin's new album The Happiness Project calling it "bad spa music." This set Torquill off and he posted the childish rant you see below.

hi guys...well i know i'm gonna regret this, but i can't help myself. I just heard Ben Folds, who many of you prolly have never heard of because you don't waste your time listening to shitty mid nineties m.o.r. lite grunge, calling my friend Charles Spearins' BEAUTIFUL new record "bad spa music" on the CBC. BEN FOLDS! insulting CHARLES SPEARIN! is he fuckin' nuts? you come to our country and insult a national treasure on the radio? CHARLIE SPEARIN????? the most beautiful talented soulful brother in the whole world? a guy who has written some of the most influential, sublime music this side of heaven? WHo has just completed the Happiness Project, one of the most original and uplifting pieces of music i have EVER HEARD? Ben Folds, ladies and gentleman, is an ASSHOLE for dismissing this extraordinary tribute to life and love as "bad spa music". It makes me wanna......well you know.....kick his scrawny, washed up hipster doofus ass....but instead, i encourage you all to write to his myspace (he could use the visits) and imbed charles' music in your message so that every time some refugee from the nineties wants to hear their favourite ben folds ditty, they get charlie instead. i've said it before, and it feels right, so i'll say it again; BEN FOLDS IS AN ASSHOLE.

let the games begin!!!xo love and hate torq@stars

Geez Torquill. You're in a damn good band but you need to grow up. The strangest part is that he pulls out the "how can you come to Canada and insult a Canadian" card. Really? It also seems that he is unaware that Folds is still a successful artist, as or more successful than Stars.

[UPDATE: The original rant has been removed and Torquil is claiming he didn't write the first one. Here's the text of thew new post.

hello everyone-we don't know who put up their rant against ben folds here....could have been anyone i guess...but we don't know what the fuck all this is about. We do love charlie spearin....don't really know ben folds work.....anyway, i find it exciting that i dont even have to know whats going on to be contreversial... i am now going to change the password on our myspace....i have to say, whoever you are, you've really got my style down!wow, torq

The everlasting though sparsely seen quartet Superchunk are preparing to rear their heads again this spring. The band will release a new EP on April 7 titled Leaves in the Gutter reports Pitchfork. The EP will feature five tracks including three brand new songs. Check out the track list below.

Leaves in the Gutter EP track list:

Learned to Surf

Misfits & Mistakes

Screw It Up

Knock Knock Knock

Learned to Surf (acoustic demo)

Superchunk will make an appearance at this year's Coachella festival on April 18. The band will most almost definitely make also play the XX Merge festival in July. We're still waiting on the announcement of the peformers for the festival.

[UPDATE: Here's what Mac had so say about the songs from the new EP on Merge's website.

Some of these songs are newer than others, but we kind of felt like if we're going to get to work on a new album we need to clear the decks of these songs first. A couple of them I really like but they already feel like they're from another era and wouldn't fit on a new album anyway, and the newer ones are from the new era but we've recorded them and they sound good so here they are. Now, when we play them live, someone might have actually heard them before!]

Monday, February 16, 2009

Australian duo The Presets have released the a video for the final single from their most recent album Apocalypso. It's for the track "If You Know" and features a young kid dancing through the streets of Los Angeles. Along the way he picks up other dancers and it turns in to a big West Side Story-esque possy. Check out the video below.

The Presets will head out on a North American tour in March that includes a stop at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. The show is on March 31 and tickets are on sale now for $15 via etix.com. The Golden Filter will open the show.

Friday, February 13, 2009

While in Nashville finishing up work on their new album O Tall Tree in the Ear, Roman Candle took some time to film a session at Lake Fever Studios. Watch the session below which features "Why Modern Radio is A-OK," "Eden Was a Garden" and a cover of the Faces song "Glad and Sorry." The video is beautifully shot and you can watch high-resolution versions of the performances here.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Mountain Goats mastermind John Darnielle and John Vanderslice will join forces in March and early April to play solo sets across the eastern part of the country. The tour has been dubbed "Gone Primitive." The two will play Duke Coffeehouse in Durham on March 19. Tickets are going to be $15 for the public and $12 for Duke students.

Darnielle is set to join Texas musician Jandek at a rare live peformance at Gerrard Hall in Chapel Hill on February 22. Darnielle will play keyboards in Jandek's band that night which will also include Brian Jones (of Agents of Good Roots) on drums and Anne Gomez (of Cantwell Gomez & Jordan) on bass.

Vanderslice recently announced that he has left his long-time label Barsuk and joined the Dead Oceans roster. He plans to release a new album via his new label later this year.